Philip W. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 0346
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Philip W., who was born in 1922 in Wadowice, Poland, one of four children. He recounts his family's orthodoxy; attending school for two years in Skawina; antisemitic harassment; participating in Zionist organizations; German invasion in 1939; fleeing with his family to Skawina, Krako?w, Lubaczo?w, then Rava-Rus?ka; returning home; anti-Jewish restrictions; three days in prison; deportation to Sosnowiec in April 1941; transfer to Gogolin; slave labor building the Reichsautobahn; receiving packages from his parents for six months; transfer to Gross Masselwitz; praying daily and fasting on Yom Kippur; transfer to Neukirch in May 1942; receiving extra bread from a guard; sharing food with fellow inmates; transfer to Marksta?dt in May 1943; slave labor for Krupp; privileged work in a smithy; transfer to Fu?nfteichen; a death march to Gross-Rosen in January 1945; transfer to Dora/Nordhausen a week later; escaping during an Allied bombing; hiding with five others; liberation by United States troops; living in Nordhausen, Allendorf, and Fulda displaced persons camps; assistance from UNRRA; living in Marburg; and emigration to the United States via Frankfurt in July 1949. Mr. W. discusses focusing only on hunger in the camps; giving up once; public hangings of captured escapees; the loss of over a hundred relatives in the Holocaust; recurrent nightmares; and attributing his survival to luck. He shows documents and photographs.

Extent and Medium

4 videocassettes

Conditions Governing Access

This testimony is open with permission.

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.